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SAIC Motor Corp, the country's largest automaker by sales, has had the stock restructuring plan it announced on April 6 approved by regulators, the company said Friday.

SAIC Motor Corp, the Chinese partner of General Motors Co and Volkswagen AG, announced that it will acquire assets from its parent company, SAIC Group, and one of SAIC Group's subsidiaries, Shanghai Automotive Industry Co Ltd.

SAIC Motor Corp will transfer 1.43 billion shares and 330 million shares to SAIC Group and Shanghai Automotive Industry Co Ltd respectively, valued at 16.53 yuan ($2.54) per share, making the total deal worth 29.11 billion yuan.

Analysts said the restructure will see SAIC Group's major operational assets transferred to the listed SAIC Motor Corp. These include controlling shares in 22 companies, such as Huayu Motor, Nanjing Tooling and Shanghai Pengpu Machine Building Plant, covering three core business areas of car parts, automobile trading and new energy vehicles.

If the restructure is successful, SAIC Group will de-register from the Shanghai Administration for Industry & Commerce, effectively disbanding the group, analysts said.

According to company report, SAIC Motor Corp achieved revenue of 96.39 billion yuan and net profit of 4.5 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year, up 53.85 percent and 72.49 percent respectively, with predictions of a total net profit of 6.07 billion yuan for the year.

SAIC Group is the second large Chinese automaker to achieve a backdoor listing. Previously, Guangzhou Auto Group listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange through a backdoor listing in August, 2010.

Despite a strong performance, Hu Maoyuan, chairman of SAIC Group, once told media that the company's R&D ability does not live up to its sales scale.

Its R&D costs last year were the equivalent of 3.1 percent of total revenues, far below the global auto industry standard of between 4 percent and 5 percent.

Hu said SAIC Group plans to increase its investment in R&D this year.

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